The present invention relates generally the gloss inherent in the hardcopy of image data be it pictorial or text as generated by graphic design artists. More particularly, this invention relates to halftoned image data and the control of differential gloss when that halftone image data is printed into hardcopy for the graphic arts.
There is an ever constant desire and need within the advertising and graphic arts to provide printed matter, be it posters, brochures, or magazines, in new and fresh ways which will appeal to the eye anew. One such approach is to provide gloss image overlays or glossmarks. However, heretofore such a technique has not proven popular. This is basically because either the client is unwilling to pay extra for the effect or the additional required processing has been too onerous to schedule or otherwise reliably juggle within the industry. The hurdles are essentially the need for special toners or paper or both, combined with any special handling issues.
There has been a need for a printer that can print a page that will provide localized gloss control. One method, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,210,346 and 5,695,220, is to use a particular white toner and a particular white paper that are designed to have different diffused light characteristics at different angles. Of course, this system requires special, matched paper and toner.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,512 to Hanna, the invention described discloses a system for producing non-copyable prints. In a xerographic printer, text is printed using clear toner. Thus, the only optical difference between toner and non-toner portions of the page is in the reflectivity. The plastic toner will reflect more light than the paper. A human reader can now read the image by holding the page at such an angle that the eye will intercept the reflected light from the toner, producing a contrast between the lighter appearing toner and the darker appearing paper. However, a copier scanner is always set up to avoid reflected light, by supplying light at an oblique angle and reading at a right angle. In this case, the diffused light is approximately equal for both toned and untoned surfaces, the scanner will detect no difference and the copier will not be able to copy the original.
All of the above are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety for their teaching.
Therefore, as discussed above, there exists a need within the marketing, advertising and graphics art industries for an arrangement and methodology which will enable gloss control and allow manipulation for glossmarks without requiring special toners/inks or paper/substrates or special handling. Thus, it would be desirable to solve this and other deficiencies and disadvantages as discussed above with an improved methodology for the manipulation of perceived gloss in graphic art documents and product.
The present invention relates to a method for a designer to provide glossmarks in a halftone image comprising the steps of providing a unique mask level with desired glossmark data and providing primary image data. This is then followed by using the unique mask level data to toggle the selection of either a first halftone having a first anisotropic structure orientation or a second halftone having a second anisotropic structure orientation different from that of the first halftone, where the first halftone is used for at least some portion of the primary image data and the second halftone is used for the remaining portion of the primary image data in rendering the halftone image.
In particular, the present invention relates to a method for a designer to provide glossmarks in a halftone image comprising the steps of providing a unique mask level with desired glossmark data and providing primary image data. This is then followed by using the unique mask level data to toggle the selection of either a first halftone having a first anisotropic structure orientation or a second halftone different from that of the first halftone, where the first halftone is used for at least some portion of the primary image data and the second halftone is used for the remaining portion of the primary image data in rendering the halftone image.
The present invention also relates to a method for a designer to provide glossmarks in a halftone image comprising the steps of providing a unique mask level with desired glossmark data and providing primary image data. This is then followed by using the unique mask level data to toggle the selection of either a first halftone having a first anisotropic structure orientation, or a second halftone having a second anisotropic structure orientation different from that of the first halftone, or a third halftone having a structure different from both the first halftone and the second halftone, where the first halftone is used for at least some portion of the primary image data, and the second halftone is used for another portion of the primary image data, and the third halftone is used for the remaining portion of the primary image data in rendering the halftone image.